Exercise equipment such as indoor cycles generally include a flywheel and a pedal assembly that are connected by a direct drive which is either a chain drive or belt drive. As the rider pedals, the chain drive or belt drive rotate the flywheel. The rotating flywheel maintains momentum as the user pedals to better simulate the feel of riding a regular road bicycle. Indoor cycles have frame geometries that allow the rider to assume different riding positions such as alternating sitting and standing positions. Through the direct drive, the momentum of the rotating flywheel also allows the rider to smoothly transition between sitting and standing positions which also helps simulate regular road bicycle riding conditions.
Variable resistance levels may be applied to the flywheel, which in turn make it more or less difficult for the rider to pedal thereby simulating different road riding conditions. This typically occurs with a knob that a rider may rotate one way to increase resistance and rotate the other way to decrease resistance. For example, less resistance may be applied to the flywheel when simulating riding on flat sections, while more resistance may be applied when simulating riding up hills and/or riding in a standing position. Variable resistance may also be applied along with different riding cadences to provide different aspects of the exercise, e.g., to provide a target heart rate.
Many indoor cycles use friction brakes to vary resistance on the flywheel. Friction brakes typically include a brake pad assembly that physically engages the flywheel. The rider may cause the brake pad to more or less forcefully engage the flywheel to increase or decrease resistance. This typically occurs by the rider rotating the above-mentioned resistance knob which serves to lower or raise a rod that in turn moves the brake pad towards or away from the flywheel thereby increasing or decreasing the resistance.
Engagement of the brake pad with the flywheel causes the pad to wear down over time, resulting in undesirable changes in the resistance characteristics of the cycle and necessitating repairs and/or replacement of the brake pad. While there have been magnetic resistance systems that have been introduced, these too have drawbacks in terms of cost, manufacturing complexity and other issues.
For example, the magnets in certain existing magnetic resistance systems are positioned on a movable arm located on either side of the flywheel such that when the arms are lowered towards the flywheel to impart more resistance, most or all of the magnets interact with the flywheel at the same time or almost the same time. This results in a significant increase in magnetic interaction with very little adjustment, e.g., very little rotation of the adjustment knob by the user, to effect the downward movement of the magnetic brake arms. As such, these systems do not provide much in the way of fine tuning the resistance, but instead provide significant increases in resistance very abruptly. This occurs because the maximum attractive force between magnets is always fixed, and the only variable is how much of the flywheel is covered by those magnets as the arms are moved.
Existing variable resistance systems may also include a brake or emergency brake that allows the rider to significantly slow or stop the flywheel from rotating. This typically occurs by the rider pushing down on the resistance knob, which in turn pushes down on the rod, which in turn pushes down the brake pad on the flywheel. However, because the emergency brake pad is typically the same brake pad that is used to apply variable resistance, the ability of the emergency brake to slow or stop the flywheel may be affected as the brake pad wears out.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved resistance system for an indoor cycle that will reduce the need for repairs and replacements and facilitate consistent resistance characteristics of the cycle over time, and increase safety.
Various exercise equipment also attempt to measure the user's energy exerted or watts. Oftentimes, this measurement is an approximation that may generally be inaccurate. Accordingly, there is a need for an improved system to measure watts.